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Thursday, January 03, 2019 1:00 am

Tucker to run for Hines' seat on City Council

BRIAN FRANCISCO | The Journal Gazette

Sharon Tucker, sworn in this week to her second term on the Allen County Council, announced Wednesday on social media that she is a candidate for the Fort Wayne City Council.

Tucker, a Democrat, said in a video on Facebook that she will run for the 6th District seat in this year's municipal election. The district is represented by 19-year Councilman Glynn Hines, who said last March he will not seek re-election for health reasons.

“I'm very proud to serve on the County Council, but I also believe that I will be able to help my community by being a member of the City Council,” Tucker, 46, said in a telephone interview.

She said she would have “a little bit more of an opportunity to affect those things with individuals that I come into contact with on a daily basis” if she were a member of the City Council.

Her County Council 1st District includes southeast Fort Wayne, New Haven and rural southeast Allen County.

Hines' successor should “be a champion for the southeast with economic development,” Tucker said, “helping forge those relationships that can help bring forth the development that the community has been crying out for.”

Tucker is a manager at 1st Source Insurance. She said in her video that when she walked neighborhoods last summer, voters asked her about prospects for street and sidewalk improvements, attracting businesses and economic development, and public safety. She also said on the video that she wants to strengthen racial and ethnic relations in the district.

Tucker is the only Democrat, woman and black on the seven-member County Council. No women are on the nine-member City Council, which has two Democrats and one black member: Hines.

Tucker said being a minority of one on the County Council “has taught me the value of being able to work across party lines and to garner friendships and support. Being true to yourself, being true to community and being willing to listen is what it requires to get government moving and to get things done.”

Her County Council term expires in 2022.

Jan. 9 is the first day that people can file their candidacies for the May 7 city primary election.